A Question of Ownership | Ellen June Wright
Apostrophe I
If I say you’re mine
as in I own you,
I want to own you,
to possess you—
is that love or
something darker?
Apostrophe II
If when you die
you leave everything behind
did you ever really own anything
or did all those things own you
until they were done with you?
Apostrophe III
When a man owns another man
enslaves him for life and his children
and his children’s children
is that a type of twisted love?
Is obsession with the other
with the dark stranger
the sinewy foreigner passion?
If you’re compelled to mix
your bloodline
with your black slaves’
bloodline
are you owned for eternity?
When you sell your child
are you selling a part
of yourself you will
never get back?
If I am yours
and we are bound together
when will it ever end?
About the Author:
Ellen June Wright was born in England of West Indian parents and immigrated to the United States as a child. She taught high-school language arts in New Jersey for three decades before retiring. She has consulted on guides for three PBS poetry series. Her work was selected as The Missouri Review’s Poem of the Week in June 2021. She was a finalist in the Gulf Stream 2020 summer poetry contest and is a founding member of Poets of Color virtual poetry workshop and recently received four 2021 Pushcart Prize Nominations for poetry.